This invention relates to magnetic compasses for vehicles. More particularly, it relates to compasses of the type which utilize an electronic magnetic field sensor.
Magnetic compasses are commonly used in vehicles, including land vehicles, boats and aircraft, as an aid in direction finding and navigation. There is an increasing demand for magnetic compasses especially for use in passenger cars. In this field of use, there is an increasing requirement for a compass of low cost which exhibits a relatively high degree of accuracy with great reliability and which is of small size and weight.
Magnetic compasses for vehicles may be classified according to the type of the magnetic field sensor. One type is a magnetic rotor sensor which utilizes a magnetized element rotatably mounted to align itself with the ambient magnetic field. Examples of this type of vehicle compass are disclosed in Schierbeek et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,862,594 granted Sep. 5, 1989 and in application Ser. No. 07/597,854 filed Oct. 15, 1990 by Schierbeek et al now U.S. Pat. No. 5,131,154, granted Jul. 21, 1992. Said patents are assigned to the same assignee as this application.
Another type is a flux gate sensor which utilizes a saturable magnetic core with excitation and sense windings for sensing the direction and field strength of an ambient magnetic field. Examples of vehicle compasses with flux gate sensors are represented by Baker et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,683,668 granted Aug. 15, 1972; Bower et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,179 granted Mar. 22, 1988; Hormel U.S. Pat. No. 4,720,992 granted Jan. 26, 1988; and Van Lente et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,305 granted Sep. 4, 1990.
There is a need, especially in vehicle compasses for passenger cars, for an improved magnetic field sensor to achieve the goals of accuracy, reliability, small size and weight and low cost. However, one of the problems in meeting these goals is that of providing deviation compensation for the compass, which is required to provide a high degree of accuracy, without a large cost penalty. It is known that a magnetic compass installed in a vehicle must be calibrated in the vehicle to account for the disturbing effect of the vehicle magnetic field. It is known that vehicles produce a magnetic field due to the presence of ferromagnetic materials, electric current carrying wires and the like and this magnetic field interferes with the earth field at locations within and adjacent the body of the vehicle. The magnetic field sensor of a compass responds to the localized magnetic field in which it is immersed for the purpose of direction finding with reference to the earth magnetic field. The magnetic field vector produced by the vehicle, herein referred to as the deviating magnetic field vector, combines with the earth magnetic field vector to produce a resultant or external magnetic field vector which, without calibration or compensation is unsuitable for reliable and accurate direction finding. Fully automatic deviation compensation is needed to meet present-day demands for passenger cars.
It is known to provide deviation compensation in a magnetic compass with a rotor type sensor by use of a pair of compensation coils which are energized with current to generate a magnetic field which is equal and opposite to the deviating magnetic field. This method of deviation compensation requires the vehicle to be oriented in certain cardinal directions relative to magnetic north and adjustments of coil current must be made. This adjustment may be carried out by the vehicle driver or it may be automated in a computer controlled compass. It results in inaccuracy unless the vehicle heading is accurately aligned relative to magnetic north. Deviation compensation of this type is disclosed in the above cited Schierbeek U.S. Pat. No. 4,862,594.
Another method of deviation compensation for vehicle compasses is referred to as the one hundred eighty degree compensation method. In this, the resultant magnetic field is measured with the vehicle in any selected orientation relative to the magnetic north and then the resultant field is measured with the vehicle in an orientation displaced one hundred eighty degrees from the first orientation. Using the measured values of the magnitude and directions of the resultant fields, the deviating field is calculated for both magnitude and direction. The calculated value is stored and subtracted from the magnetic field measurements subsequently taken by the compass in use for direction finding to thereby compensate it for deviation. The use of this method for a flux gate compass is disclosed in the above cited Bower U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,179, the Hormel U.S. Pat. No. 4,720,992 and the Baker et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,683,668.
Fully automatic deviation compensation systems for vehicle compasses have been proposed wherein no manual intervention is required. In the Tsushimo U.S. Pat. No. 4,445,279, granted May 1, 1984 an automatic system is disclosed using a flux gate sensor. An A-to-D converter and microprocessor are used to calculate an offset correction to compensate for the deviating field of the vehicle after driving the car in a full circle. A fully automatic compensation system is described in the Al-Attar U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,462 granted Feb. 28, 1989. In the system of this patent, a flux gate sensor measures three headings with the car moving, and using the headings, the coordinates are derived for the center of the earth field circle and the directional offset values are computed by using the coordinates. Another fully automatic deviation compensation system is described in the Van Lente U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,305 cited above. In this system, a flux gate sensor is used and the maximum and minimum signal values are recorded while the vehicle is driven through a closed loop. Then, the value of the deviating vehicle field is calculated from the recorded values. The compensating current is applied to the respective X and Y axis sense coils of the flux gate sensor to nullify the deviating field.
In the prior art, it is proposed to use magnetoresistive sensors in magnetic compasses. Such a compass is shown in the Picard U.S. Pat. No. 1,946,170 granted Feb. 13, 1934 wherein the magnetoresistive elements are connected in a bridge circuit. A compass using thin film magnetoresistive sensors is described in the Stucki et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,258 granted Mar. 9, 1976. In this system three magnetoresistive sensors are disposed in orthogonal relationship to develop a signal corresponding to the angular relationship between the compass platform and the magnetic north. The sensors are provided with a pumping coil and an output coil wound around the film at ninety degrees to each other. The pumping coil applies an alternating bias magnetic field to the magnetoresistive film. The Sansom U.S. Pat. No. 4,525,671 granted Jun. 25, 1985 describes a magnetoresistive sensor with a single magnetoresistive element capable of sensing two components of a magnetic field. A current strap extends parallel to the magnetoresistive element and other current strap extends at right angles to the magnetoresistive element. One of the current straps carries current in alternate directions during a periodic cycle while the other strap carries current in a single direction. Another magnetic compass comprising a magnetoresistive thin film is disclosed in UK patent application 8707218 published Sep. 28, 198. Two pairs of magnetoresistive thin films are arranged at right angles to each other. Means are provided to produce a biasing magnetic field and to measure a change in electric resistivity of the magnetoresistive material. The Boord et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,533,872 granted Aug. 6, 1985 describes a magnetoresistive thin film sensor of particular configuration for use as an electronic sensor in a compass.
As indicated above, the prior art is replete with vehicle compass technology in great detail. While the use of magnetoresistive sensors for compasses is suggested in the prior art, practical application requires an acceptable technique for fully automatic deviation compensation in a vehicle. Even though the prior art includes many different methods of deviation compensation for vehicle compasses, the art is lacking in respect to deviation compensation for magnetoresistive sensors.
A general object of this invention is to provide an improved vehicle compass using a magnetoresistive sensor which overcomes certain disadvantages of the prior art.
In accordance with this invention, a vehicle compass is provided which provides a high degree of accuracy and reliability with small size and weight and which is of low cost. This is accomplished using a thin film magnetoresistive sensor provided with a current conductor for providing switchable magnetic bias and a current conductor for nullifying a deviating field.
Further, in accordance with a first embodiment of this invention, an electronic compass is provided which employs a closed loop system to nullify deviating magnetic fields.
Further, in accordance with a second embodiment of this invention, an electronic compass is provided which automatically operates in an initial calibration mode to determine the initial compensation for the particular vehicle installation and in a normal calibration mode which is operative during normal compass operation for adjusting calibration as may be needed. In the initial calibration mode, the signal peak values are adjusted to a nominal earth field level by changing the offset current. Compensating signal reference values for each axis are determined as each peak for that axis is determined. In the normal compensation mode, the sensor signals are sampled and stored during compass operation in its direction indicating mode. When a new peak is acquired for one axis, which should occur at the signal reference value in the orthogonal axis, an adjustment value is stored and later used to adjust the compensating signal reference value. The signal reference value for each axis is adjusted at least once for each peak of the orthogonal axis during the time interval between turn-on and turn-off of the vehicle ignition switch.
A complete understanding of this invention may be obtained from the detailed description that follows taken with the accompanying drawings.